As your medical practice continues to grow, billing is going to be more and more of a hassle. If you are still handling your billing processes manually, it’s a good idea to start looking at electronic medical billing software. Software can help to track and streamline billing processes for your medical practice. Here are some features to look out for.
HIPAA compliance.
HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, an act that was enacted in 1996 by the federal government. The software automatically checks for HIPAA compliance codes. A warning will appear if the code that you entered is not HIPAA compliant.
Ease of use.
The medical billing software that you eventually choose should be easy to use. Of course, a little training may be required. But it should be easy enough for anyone, even those without a technical background, to be able to learn how to use the software quickly. This means that the software should follow a similar process as a manual accounting system.
Accounting made simple.
Simplicity should be a recurring theme here. When you have all the numbers entered into the database, the software will be able to present the numbers to you in a clear and simple manner. At a glance, you can immediately see what is happening to the bills – how much was charged, how much has been paid, what is the amount overdue, etc.
Appointment scheduling.
All medical practices depend largely on appointments for revenue generation. The more appointments met, the higher the level of revenues. This advance feature helps to keep appointments well organized.
Practice management features.
The best billing software over delivers. In other words, it may even come with features such as patient referral reports. If you have a medical practice that depends heavily on referrals, you can easily see all the referral points in the software.
Speed up insurance billing.
Insurance billing, when done manually, is very time consuming because there is a need to retrieve relevant information when filing insurance claims. For example, different claim forms may be required for different type of medical claims. The billing software stores important insurance claiming information, thus speeding up the claim process. You can print custom claim forms from within the software. You can also send claims electronically to speed turnaround time.
As the insurance policies usually change on a regular basis, you must also make sure that the billing software you are using has regular updates.
Top notch support.
Finally, before making a buying decision, always ensure that the support for the software is top notch. You may encounter bugs, or various other issues while using the software. To ensure that such problems don’t affect the operations of your practice, support must be readily available. Bottom line is, they must solve your problems quickly!
